What Matters Most?

CORE PRACTICE #90: Don’t spread yourself too thin; it’s hard to serve well and joyfully when you’re overcommitted.

“This is not good!” Moses’ father-in-law exclaimed. “You’re going to wear yourself out—and the people, too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself.” —Exodus 18:14-18

TONY

I was fortunate to begin my career in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers. During my ten years with that franchise—first as a player and then on the coaching staff—Coach Chuck Noll taught me the value of efficiency. He was all about getting work done in the right way, with the right attitude, and on time.

He also believed that his players and coaches should be well-rounded. That meant making family time a priority and finding other pursuits to learn from and enjoy. For him, that included flying planes, boating, and cooking.^a

Over the years, I came to value Coach Noll’s life lesson even more. It’s easy to get so busy working that we either aren’t as effective as we could be or we wear ourselves out. Perhaps the greater danger comes when we miss out on the important things of life. As the late Stephen Covey once wrote, we have to be able to distinguish between the “important” and the “urgent” tasks in life. Too many of us spend the bulk of our time dealing with the urgent—phone calls, paperwork, meetings—and forget that most good things in life fall in the important category.

Time devoted to our family, long-term goals, and prayer and Bible study all fall under the category of those activities that are important but not necessarily urgent. Without forethought, the immediate things that crop up will keep us from focusing on what matters most.

Moses was fortunate to have someone like Jethro point out how his priorities had gotten out of whack. Jethro helped his son-in-law determine which things only he could do and which he could delegate. In the end, Moses agreed to appoint some trustworthy men to take leadership over groups of Israelites and settle some everyday disputes.

As is clear from their conversation, the problem wasn’t that Moses had taken on unimportant or bad tasks; rather, he had taken on too big a load, which was wearing him down and keeping his focus off what should have been his main concerns. Likewise, many of the activities that distract us aren’t bad; it’s just that they can crowd out higher priorities. It can happen all too easily: a worthwhile project, a great volunteer opportunity, “just one more thing that we need your help with” can distract us. In the process, we may start living by someone else’s agenda and forsake our own. Take a lesson from Moses and Jethro, and don’t let that happen to you.

Adventure Application: What is an area of importance that has been on the back burner too long and needs some attention from you? Are there steps you can take to make sure it gets the attention it deserves?